Texas’ First Novice Eight boat and West Virginia’s First Varsity 8+ have both been named Big 12 Boat of the Week for competition from March 25 - April 7, the league office announced. It is the first honor for both institutions this season.

UT’s 1N8 boat won the Collegiate Novice Petite final (six boats) Sunday at the San Diego Crew Classic in 6:54.90, and defeated crews from Washington State, USC and Sacramento State. The Longhorns defeated second-place Washington State by over two seconds. Notably, UT’s winning time of 6:54.90 was just off the first-place time of 6:54.80 produced by Washington in the Collegiate Novice G-Final. Texas’ 1N8 produced the second-fastest time among both 1N8 finals contested Sunday, as UT’s 6:54.90 topped the time of 6:54.96 produced by California in the G-Final. UT was poised to qualify for the G-Final in its qualifying heat on Saturday (by placing among the top-two in its heat), but a rower ejected from the boat with about 10 strokes remaining. Despite being one rower down, UT still managed to take third place in its qualifying heat to reach the petite final that it ultimately won.

Competing in Alabama for the first time in program history, the first varsity 8+ crew of Rachelle Purych, Lisa Deklau, Kelly Kramer, Danielle Widecrantz, Elizabeth Kantak, Jessica Hurlbert, Karen Verwey, Courtney Schrand, and coxswain Mallory Fisher paced the Mountaineers with a first-place finish (7:41.5) over UCF (7:43.2) and Alabama (7:52.1). The Mountaineers first varsity 8+ time was the fastest among the five other varsity 8+ entries.